Coakley, Conroy rally for youth jobs

By Allison DeAngelisDaily News Correspondent

Friday

Feb 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM

BOSTON ó Local legislators and politicians joined nearly 1,000 young people from across the state Thursday to rally for increased funding for youth jobs programs."You are out there giving a voice to a need in our society today, which is that the government needs to work together with the private sector to make sure there are opportunities for every single person here," state Rep. Tom Conroy, D-Wayland, told the crowd inside Boston's Old South Church.Conroy spoke alongside Attorney General Martha Coakley and Felix Arroyo, Boston's chief of Health and Human Services."I just want you to know that you are not powerless. In fact, you are very powerful. Your dreams are our dreams and when you succeed, we succeed," said Arroyo.Attendees marched to the Statehouse to seek support for $24.5 million in funding for the three youth job programs (Youth Works, Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, and School to Career Connecting Activities).Because of the recession, program funding fell from $8.7 million in 2007 to around $2 million in 2009.Over the last three years, the youth jobs program budget has rebounded, reaching $19 million last year.Despite the increase in funding over the last three years, only a quarter of Massachusetts youth are employed. That figure drops to 20 percent for teens from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to Kelley French, program director at the Marlborough-based organization Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce.In 1999, nearly half of young people who wanted jobs were employed."In the 60s and 70s, there was a lot of state money that went towards hundreds of youth jobs in the area. With state money nowadays, we can help around 50 kids get jobs in Framingham," she said in an interview.In addition to increased funding, Kelley said legislators should consider rewarding employers who hire teens with incentives such as tax credits."I think there are a lot of young people that are out there that want jobs, but they canít necessarily get them," said Kelley. "Itís getting worse, not better."Allison DeAngelis works for the Boston University Statehouse Program

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